Report 2021-611 Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2021-611: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund: Some University Campuses Did Not Maximize Available Federal Pandemic Funds, and They Prioritized Students Differently When Awarding Relief Funds (Release Date: November 2021)

Recommendation #14 To: University of California, Merced

To maximize the available HEERF funds, UC Merced should review expenses it incurred in response to the pandemic since January 2020 and submit all eligible expenses to FEMA for reimbursement. The campus should reallocate any HEERF funds initially spent for these expenses to other purposes, such as replacing lost revenue or providing additional student aid.

The university has submitted a FEMA claim for eligible expenditures initially covered by HEERF. However, a very small portion ($54K) remains on HEERF and will not be submitted for FEMA claim as the cost of submitting a new claim for this period exceeds the benefit for the campus.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

UC Merced provided documentation regarding its determination of which costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

We have submitted FEMA claim for Jan 2020 -December 2020. During that annual year we only had $11K of potential FEMA eligible cost on HEERF. At this point the $11K will not be submitted for FEMA as the cost of submitting new claim for this period exceed the benefit for campus. We are in the process of reviewing expenses for Jan 2021 to December 2021 and within next 90 days will determine next steps and resources needed to increase claim with FEMA.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing UC Merced's analysis of its pandemic-related expenses and how it determined which costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

We have removed the FMMA eligible cost such as testing from Heerf for expenses incurred in FY21/22 and beyond.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: No Action Taken

UC Merced's response relates to expenses incurred since July 2021. Further, it did not provide its analysis of past costs. We look forward to reviewing its analysis of its past pandemic-related expenses, its determination of which costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement, or an explanation for why it is not feasible to submit some or all of these eligible costs.

We have removed the FMMA eligible cost such as testing from Heerf for expenses incurred in FY21/22 and beyond.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

UC Merced did not provide its analysis of its pandemic-related expenses, its determination of which costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement, or documentation of its claims for reimbursement or an explanation for why it is not feasible to submit them. Nor did it provide adequate justification for why it is not addressing costs incurred before fiscal year 2021-22. We have requested this information from the campus.

We have submitted FEMA claim for Jan 2020 -December 2020. During that annual year we only had $11K of potential FEMA eligible cost on HEERF. At this point the $11K will not be submitted for FEMA as the cost of submitting new claim for this period exceed the benefit for campus. We are in the process of reviewing expenses for Jan 2021 to December 2021 and within next 90 days will determine next steps and resources needed to increase claim with FEMA.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing UC Merced's analysis of calendar year 2021 pandemic-related expenses, its determination of which costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement, and documentation of its claims for reimbursement or an explanation for why it is not feasible to submit them.

All Recommendations in 2021-611

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.